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About Pete Baker

“The Brits were caught trying to smuggle RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS to the IRANIAN MILITARY”.

This isn’t “The Brits”, it’s someone trying to break the law. I happen to work in the area of exports and I can tell you that trying to get anything into Iran is next to impossible. Indeed if you deal with any country in the Middle East, the amount of checks that are done to make sure where things are going to are incredible.

Jo “Those acting in the interests of the Irish people are not Ahern’s governmwent, they are the protestors at Shannon.”

Let’s put that to the test at the next election shall we? The Irish government are accoutable to the people. These “head-the-balls” are accountable to no one and an embarrassment to most.

Believe me, I want to be wrong on this. If anything should happen in Dublin, it will be due to the Irish government policy of actively assisting the US in Iraq. I wouldn’t expect Bertie to do anything other than parrot Blair in such a dreadful eventuality, but had the UK been distinct from the US in the eyes of the suicide bombers, 7/7 would not have happened.

Keith M

Jo, thank you and you’ve given me re-newed respect for Ahern (my local TD). I’m delighted that Ireland is playing an (albeit small) role in the war on terror. For far too long this country sat on its hands depending on our neighbours to defend us against foreign threats.

At least we now have one of the big parties saying that we should end our useless “neutrality”.

The targetting of places like France, Turkey, Egypt and Morocco proves that islamic terrorism needs no excuse to target innocent civilians.

If it’s to be Dublin next so be it, at least we’re making a (small) effort) to fight this menace.

P O’Neil

“This isn’t “The Brits”, it’s someone trying to break the law. I happen to work in the area of exports and I can tell you that trying to get anything into Iran is next to impossible. Indeed if you deal with any country in the Middle East, the amount of checks that are done to make sure where things are going to are incredible.”

The only thing that’s incredible is your BS… I distinctly remember the Brits and Yanks supplying WMD to Iraq during sactions and the Brits also trying to smuggle in a ‘Super-gun’. But of course, they’d never do that…..

Jo,

Get over this suicide bomber thing – it never happened on 7/7 – just like WTA, WTC first attack, Oklahoma City, 9/11, and 7/7 – they were ALL INSIDE JOBS. Interviews with 7/7 survivors was printed in the Guardian just after the attacks, and according to the eyewitnesses interviewed that the floors of the tube trains and the bus that the wreckage holes on the floors were pointing upwards (inside the respective vehicles) indicating that the bombs were planted underneath and not carried on by bombers.

The picture that the media showed of the ‘bombers’ boarding a train in Leeds (or where ever it was) and the time stamp would indicate that there was no possible way that they could have boarded that train, then arrive in London to commit the bombings.

Since I mentioned the 7/7 bombings its also pertainant to mention the Jean Charles de Menzes case. Despite all the lies from the government (ie he was wearing padded jacket with wires hang-out. volting over turnstiles etc) it never happened and was only disproved when CCTV footage, from cameras the Brits said were not working, clearly discredited their claims – funnily enough, this footage has now gone missing. De Menzes was not shot by police, but a special forces unit – who ignored the procedures for dealing with a potential ‘suicide bomber’, jumped on him and shot him 9 times in the head (execution style). De Menzes was a electrian working for the London underground. Given the circumstances surrounding 7/7 (the Brits also just so happened to be carry-out a drill, in which the same targets were hit – just like 9/11 and Oklahoma), it is entirely possible that De Menzes saw or discovered something he shouldn’t have, and was silenced – Brit style.

Keith M

OK, based on his last post “P O’Neill” is obviously another example of “care in the community” not working (That’s two we’ve had this week), where’s the “ignore” button?

So you’re happy with the slaughter of innocent people due to needless fawning to a policy which has slaughtered other innocent people, Keith. Tailspin time, is it? 😉

I do agree with you re. PO’N though. Will you reassess your view of him/her in that light?

na

I was going to ask would the hand baggage ban result in Ryanair allowing free hold stowage again.

But that’s a stupid question.

Of course Ryanair will use this as an opportunity to charge everyone for the privilege of bringing something with them on a journey.

This should result in the outlawing of charges for hold baggage from airlines but I doubt it.

Dread Cthulhu

Jo: “If an “uppity women who should know her place” knows this, I think some would-be Dublin suicide bombers know it as well. I’d rather holiday in Paris than in Dublin at the moment. ”

And just how do you think these fellows would view you, Jo? I personally don’t mind your “cut and thrust” style, but I think the checkered-headkerchief crowd might find it offensive.

P O’Neil

“OK, based on his last post “P O’Neill” is obviously another example of “care in the community” not working”

I do suggest that you do some research before you make any insinuations or show you’re ignorance. One thing I have studied for years is government engineered terrorism. But I am sure that you are willing to believe whatever the governemnt tells you – Warren and Hutton inquires instantly spring to mind.

Personally I don’t care, you sheep just continue to follow the Judas goat. However, I do want to know that truth, and be free, much unfortunately means I have to wake sheep like yourselves up. Don’t believe a word I say – go research what I have said (its all in the public domain) which you wont do becuase you are afraid of the truth. Insted of talkiing or debating about the real issues you just skirt about on periferal issues as if they were the central ones. For someone who has perportedly read 1984 I think you missed the part about ‘double-think’ – oooo because of these nasty suicide bombers we have to give up our liberty for freedom…. Take your flag waving shite elsewhere….

To regard some situations as manufactured by government agencies is reasonable scepticism.
To regard all as such is paranoia.

DC

How they view me is not entirely dissimilar from how some allegedly “superior” “civilised” western men regard me, I should imagine. Have you seen the rape stats. for the UK and USA in recent times? I am still reeling from a series of emails I received (spam) featuring footage and stills of “Our guys raping their way across Iraq.”
None appeared to be wearing checkered handkerchiefs.

Keith M

Jo “So you’re happy with the slaughter of innocent people due to needless fawning to a policy which has slaughtered other innocent people.”

Have you not read my comment? I actually want to do something to stop this senseless killing of innocent people. Sitting on your hands is not an option. When people who are opposed to the US & UKJ policy in the Middle Eat actually come up with a realistic alternative, to counter the terrorist threat I’m certainly prepared to listen to it but all if I hear is a defening silence with the odd suggestion of appeasement, which has never worked in the past.

I am unsure if you regard anything short of war as “appeasement” but I’ll assume that you might be open to my thought that removal of the causes of grievance with the majority of Muslims (who do not want anything to do with jihad and regard the violence committed in the name of Islam as an obscenity) might be a good thing.

That requires a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue and a resolution in Iraq & Afghanistan. The present policies of the US and its ally have failed and feed the jihad. The chronology doesnt start with the WTC bombings in the 90s or 9/11. We are talking decades here.

Remove the causes and you drain the pool where the fish swim. War on “terror” is similar to a war on “rape.” Both can appear everywhere and are symptomatic of a deeper rooted problem.

peter fallow

“For those of you who are frightened now might prove to be a good opportunity, if you haven’t already done so, to declare yourselves Irish. Not having invaded anywhere, we are not targets. Isn’t that nice?”

The Republic doesn’t have the capacity to occupy Rockall. And I’m glad you’re so proud of your craven cowardice. Says it all about the Irish attitude.

Keith M

Jo; I fully support a solution to the Isreali-Palestine conflict. The only viable solution is a two-state one with realistic and defendable borders. This is something which the UK and US have supported.

Again the UK & US have been working hard to find democratic solutions in Iraq and Afghanistan and have seen the lives of their own military being lost in the fight for democracy.

if you don’t support a democratic solution and if you have an alternative, I’m waiting to hear it.

We could go on about the merits of “defendable” eg a more defendable frontier in a local context could involve using Lough Neagh – suffice for now to say that I think the rights of those living in the state other than Israel have a right to have a state which hasnt been economically castrated in the interest of defending Israel. I wouldn’t characterise my vision of a 2 state solution as undemocratic, either. 🙂

(BTW, Slugger, how come the codes I have to enter here to make a post seem to involve “69” on an unusually frequent basis? )

Dread Cthulhu

JO: “Have you seen the rape stats. for the UK and USA in recent times? I am still reeling from a series of emails I received (spam) featuring footage and stills of “Our guys raping their way across Iraq.” ”

I do seem to recall some kerfluffle about those sort of pictures… they turned out to be from a Eastern European porn site and were quickly demonstrated wrong, much to the embaressment of the politicians and anti-war activists who called attention to them. Having not seen yours, I cannot tell you if they are the same, similar or different — you couldn’t really avoid the other batch — a local broadsheet ran them front-page, thinking they had a grand coup, only to have to wipe the egg from their faces.

P O’Neil

Jo, you are right about this roots of this conflict going back over decades. Things really kicked off in 1988 when the USS Vincennes accidently shot down an Airbus carrying 290 Muslims on a pilramage to Mecca. Islamic Jihad, PLO and PFLP-GC (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palistine – General Command) swore that they would bring down 10 American planes for the one the Americans blew out of the sky. Lockerbie and the TW800 were in retaliation (PFLP-GC were hired to bring down the Panam flight, and not the Lybians as the media lied about – namely because the Panam flight was used to smuggle cocaine and heroin, thats how they bag made it onto the flight, and change at Malta and London without anyone carrying it). However, I have reservations about 9/11, a lot of things dont tie up, and evidence indicates that it was an inside job (at the very least some ‘Arabs’ might have been hired to make it look like a legit terrosist attack).

And if none of you believe that the Yanks would ever do such a thing read the ‘Northwoods’ documents, penned by Oliver North in 1962, and gives various scenarios the Americans could use to bum steer / justify a war with Cuba… Worth noting that one of the scenarios envisioned by North bares starteling similarities to 9/11 (ie it was the blueprint).http://emperors-clothes.com/images/north-i.htm

Garibaldy

Dread,

There have been numerous cases of rapes (and sometimes murders too) by US soliders in Japan, Kosovo, Iraq.

The World’s Gone Mad

“And if none of you believe that the Yanks would ever do such a thing read the ‘Northwoods’ documents, penned by Oliver North in 1962”

Oliver North was born in 1943, which would have made him only 19 in 1962 – did he really pen it – how did a teenager know so much about US policy?

Theres a particularly nasty rape trial at the moment. Admittedly the main guy has been discharged from the US Army, but he is far from the only one involved in this. Pople who raise this sort of thing are often criticised for some form of “disloyalty” or “pro-terrorist” bias, but really, if you try to sweep this soprt of thing away, you do your own cause no good. After all, aren’t we supposed to be better than the thing we are trying to fight? I want to believe that “they” are bad but I can’t but say it when I see that “we” act as badly.

Dread Cthulhu

Garibaldy: “There have been numerous cases of rapes (and sometimes murders too) by US soliders in Japan, Kosovo, Iraq. ”

So have the vaunted UN blue-helmets, but somehow that never quite makes the same headlines. American soldier get prosecuted, UN “peace-keepers” simply get sent home.

My point is that the criminal set are unlikely to be A) documenting their criminality and B) sharing it with the world on a random basis via spam.

Keith M

“I think the rights of those living in the state other than Israel have a right to have a state which hasnt been economically castrated in the interest of defending Israel.”

Here we agree as well I think that finding a viable two state solution means that both states need to be economically viable as miuch as possible.

The problem with a Palestinian state as engisaged is that it will be a non-contiguous state and these are notoriously difficult to govern. (See the original Pakistan for an example of this).

Another issue is Jerusalem, where I think a solution agreeable to all is going to be very difficult.

P O’Neil

Sorry,

My mistake, Operation Northwoods was the brainchild of Lemnitzer and McNamara in 1962…. Olvier North was a mistake – currently posting on
another site about the Iran-Contra (guns for drugs) affair.

Doesnt detract from the fact that the Yanks envisioned these scenarios… Whoever declassified these documents may have been a moron, but did the public a massive service.

Garibaldy

Dread,

There are numerous cases of people filming their illegal exploits, including rape. The spam I doubt, I agree. The UN does this too. The Canadians under the lovely de Chastelain were disgusting for a whole range of reasons.

cladycowboy

peter fallow

‘The Republic doesn’t have the capacity to occupy Rockall. And I’m glad you’re so proud of your craven cowardice. Says it all about the Irish attitude.’

I’d be more than happy to meet you face to face so you can tell me about the cowardice of the Irish, if you’d like?

Dread Cthulhu

Garibaldy: “There are numerous cases of people filming their illegal exploits, including rape. The spam I doubt, I agree. The UN does this too. The Canadians under the lovely de Chastelain were disgusting for a whole range of reasons. ”

Hence the phrase “and sharing it with the world at random,” Garibaldy.

My objection, shall we say, is the “Reuterization” of the news. American or Israeli does bad and its front-page news, yet systematic bad behavior by UN blue helmets are relief personnel has to be dragged kicking and screaming into day-light so it can be soft-pedaled on page 38, somewhere below the obituaries and retractions? So much for an unbiased press…

As for the rest, if you want to get into the details of it, do a little research in the differing experiences of a Syrian captured in war by Israelis and the experience of an Israeli captured in war by Syrians…

Garibaldy

Dread,

I’m sure the Israelis treat POWs properly. I’ve never suggested otherwise. It’s just civilians they mistreat on a daily basis

Dread Cthulhu

Garibaldy: “It’s just civilians they mistreat on a daily basis ”

If Hizbollah were not launching rockets from civilian areas, there would be far fewer civilian casualties.

Were Hizbollah not launcing rockets, there would be no casualties.

Had they not done the same thing Hamas had done, what, two days earlier, there wouldn’t even be a conflict impinging on Lebanon.

Nasrullah informed the Lebanese gov’t that he was going to kidnap Israeli soldiers to facilitate a prisoner swap. Now, he did not share operational data, merely discussed strategy. However, as Hizbollah is part of the government, Hizbollah’s raid was a legitimate casus belli.

Are you of the opinion Israel should simply “lie back and think of England?”

Garibaldy: “I was thinking more of people in Palestine than Lebanon. ”

Much of the same logic still applies, simply substitute PLO or Hamas for Hizbollah.

Rory

Thank you, CladyCowboy, for rushing to my defence but as Peter Fallow’s remarks were in response to earlier remarks of mine, perhaps I should have the honour of meeting him first.

It is not cowardice to oppose the mass murder of innocent civilians by the RAF and their USAF masters from the safety of their bomber planes but it is moral cowardice that allows one’s own government to engage in such murder in one’s own name without protest. Fortunately the majority of the good people of the UK have clearly demonstrated their moral courage by showing that they are vehemently opposed to the actions and policy of the government. Peter Fallow does not seem to be able to summon up that same moral courage. He is not to be condemned. Fear often will do that to a man.

Something reminds me of De Valera’s specch following Churchill’s snipe at the Republic after WW2. Please don’t be offended!

Rory

I’m not at all offended, Jo, the reverse in fact, I am very flattered. I do admire de Valera’s response as well and I have heard it cited by a prominent Englishman on BBC Radio as a particulary great historic response of quiet dignity being used by a small nation to deflect the bullying criticism of a larger hostile force.

I don’t think my response quite merits inclusion in to that category, but thank you.

Reader

Rory: Fortunately the majority of the good people of the UK have clearly demonstrated their moral courage by showing that they are vehemently opposed to the actions and policy of the government.
What “majority”? – when?
Rory: I do admire de Valera’s response as well
Was that his ‘Who could know that Hitler was a baddy? – we were just waiting to make sure…’ speech?